Steve Blake came off the bench and accelerated things, instead of stopping and consulting some invisible GPS. He had 13 points, including three of six confident tries from the 3-point line.

And the Lakers, using a 19-rebound edge to offset a frightful minus-18 in turnovers, outlasted Memphis, 90-82, to go 6-4 in the first 15 days of this drag race.

Andrew Bynum had 15 more points, 15 more rebounds, and Kobe Bryant had 26 points, nine assists and a startling, up-and-under flash dunk.

He would have had 28 if he hadn't gotten engaged in a fourth-quarter conversation with the Grizzlies' O.J. Mayo, and missed two foul shots. Maybe they were discussing the best place to get a deal on a big screen.

"We kept trying to make the home run play a few too many times," Coach Mike Brown said.

Barnes and Blake were guilty there, but both are running wild and free after a confining 2010-11.

Both were new to the triangle, which relies on five-man movement in concert, along with generous spacing that discourages double-teams.

"It's a personnel offense," said Luke Walton, who is a triangle believer.

It's a particularly good offense with Hall of Fame personnel, because it's hard to pin down Bryant or Michael Jordan.

The new offense is not totally assembled, but Blake now can function like a real point guard, which he has done since Miami Senior High.

Barnes, whose game is based on uprooting trees and caving in windows, can play fast again.

"The first year with the triangle is the hardest," Walton said. "When you get it down pat you can have fun with it because of all the options. Steve's having a great year. Obviously this offense has more traditional pick-and-roll stuff, where the point guard initiates. In the triangle anybody can initiate it."

At Portland in '09, Blake averaged 11 points and 9.4 field goal attempts. Last year he averaged four points, a career low when healthy, and his minutes dropped to 20 a game.

He came into Sunday at 7.6 points and 24.6 minutes.

"I wouldn't say the triangle was difficult," Blake said. "It's just different. It's very easy for a point guard not to touch the ball for a while in the triangle. With this offense you have pick-and-rolls and regular sets and it's the way I've played my whole life.

"That was my mind-set coming into the year, just to play the way I've always played. Last year was hard, but you learn from times like that."

The Lakers were Barnes' eighth NBA team when he arrived in 2010, and then injuries held him to 53 games. Still, he averaged only 19.2 minutes when healthy. That number will grow as he camps out in the starting lineup, having already evicted Devin Ebanks.

Barnes is there because he can belabor, and sometimes infuriate, top scorers in three different positions. But he also made an NBA name because he could shoot 3s.

"Learning the triangle was tough," Barnes said. "And then learning the counters to the stars who were already in the triangle was tough. Steve and I were thinking too much last year when we came here. We were stepping into a back-to-back championship team and trying to do everything right instead of just playing basketball."

Walton spent the lockout as a volunteer assistant coach at the U. of Memphis, where practice time is severely limited by NCAA rules.

"No, I didn't put in any triangle plays," he said, laughing. "Closest thing was one out-of-bounds play we had with a triangle option, which we called Laker. But those guys would have had to practice 10 hours a day to learn all of it."

So the Lakers aren't a postgraduate geometry course any more. But even though the triangle is the wardrobe worn by emperors, it doesn't fit all.

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